


Skycaught

by Triskaidekalogue



Series: HSO 2011 ficbits [13]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Prehistoric, F/F, Ficbit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-24
Updated: 2011-10-24
Packaged: 2017-10-24 22:45:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/268728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Triskaidekalogue/pseuds/Triskaidekalogue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Terezi has a difficult path ahead of her if she wants to reach shamanhood. The first leg of the journey runs through her lusus' fresh corpse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Skycaught

**Author's Note:**

> A ficbit for HSO Bonus Round 3A, inspired by [this piece of cool fanart](http://hso-r3.livejournal.com/7888.html#cutid1).

It was difficult, preserving the leathery membrane that stretched between the ribs of the lusus' wings. The beast was not two days dead, but steppe autumns had a fierce thirst to them, and already a certain brittle translucence was beginning to creep into the membrane.

That was cause for worry. The wings of a flightbeast were the seat of its virtue; broken, they meant weakness, falling, failing. A shaman who failed make anchor-regalia of a dead lusus' powerful parts would lose the lusus' spirit, and that meant they were no true shaman at all.

Terezi Fire-Eyes would be a true shaman if it killed her.

She had actually sat out in the open much longer than a mere two days. She'd lost count, though, of exactly how long she'd been out there, singing the remembering chants and guiding her too-young lusus to its too-soon death. Her voice was gone and her skin was cracked and the scent of blood and smoke pressed so thickly about her that she didn't notice Nepeta's presence until Nepeta spoke.

"The clan's doing well," she said from a safe distance, "and you know, I would want you at my side no matter what you did. You could well give your lusus to the sky and be done with it."

Terezi ignored her and hacked another strip of flesh from the ribcage, tossing it toward the pile that accumulated on the far side from the smoke pit.

"You're already a hunter. That's very high honor," Nepeta ventured, after Terezi had finished defleshing the first rib. "You don't need to be shaman too."

This provoked a response at last: Terezi half-turned and bared her fangs in grimace-grin. "So says the current shaman."

Nepeta frowned. "I don't understand what you're worried about. Here." She squatted and held out a fur-gloved hand. "Give me that knife."

"Sabotager." Terezi moved her knife hand out of Nepeta's reach. "You of all people know that anchoring regalia must be created by one set of hands alone, _Lionskin_."

"I just wanted to help you call your lusus' spirit sooner!" said Nepeta, stung, and perhaps the hurt in her voice stung Terezi too, because when she replied the ready edge had gone from her words--

"I know. It's not just that." Terezi sank the blade a little too deeply into the next rib, and didn't wince as she pulled it back. "I truly want to be shaman. I always have. Honor or no."

She worked in silence for the next hundred heartbeats before a new sound came to her ears: the rough whisper of tanned hide sliding from skin. Nepeta's bare hands came down to rest on Terezi's shoulders, disregarding the sweat-streaked stains of ash and teal that covered her back, and squeezed gently.

"I'll sing my own chants for you," Nepeta told her. "That's allowed. And when I'm back from taking your place in hunt, I'll be waiting for you."

The parting smile Terezi gave Nepeta was as sharp as any snarl, but she could feel the corners of her eyes crinkling, and she knew Nepeta would surely see it too.


End file.
